Page 4 of The Baby Clause
“Did he say what the problem was?” My first reaction was one of exasperation. But Jerry wasn’t that reckless. If he was calling for help, then it was serious.
“Well, he said something about finding a… parcel on his doorstep that wasn’t his and that he didn’t know what to do with it.”
“Easy, call the delivery company…” Why would he call the emergency number for a trivial thing like that? It made no sense.
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Sheriff. I’m pretty sure I heard him say it was a baby, and he asked for you by name.”
A… baby? That couldn’t be right, surely. Jerry didn’t have any pups-did he?
“Okay, I’ll head over there in a few minutes. Hopefully it's nothing.”
“There’s another storm brewing, so you might want to head back to town before it hits.”
The sky had that pinkish tinge to it that suggested a heavy snow dump was heading our way again. On days like these, I questioned why I didn’t live in a warmer location, one that was a little closer to the sea and a beach. Simple answer was ‘sand’. It got everywhere… and my inner wolf didn’t like it getting in his fur.
As I drove up the mountain trail, my thoughts turned again to Jerry. I thought I knew all I needed to know about the Fox shifter. Only, I didn’t. Thoughts of him kept creeping up on me. Like the time he tried skiing, I was waiting to teach a beginner’s class when he got tangled up in his own skis and fell in a twisted heap. I could tell by the way he fell that his knee was going to give out. The yelping was another sign. Seeing him lying there in pain did something to me. It twisted a knot deep in my gut and although there were other members of the ski patrol about, who could have helped? I couldn’t stop myself from stepping in. I didn’t even know his name back then. Not that it mattered, as the memory of his face was imprinted on my brain. The man was a mystery to me. Each time I thought I’d pieced together who he was, another picture would form. Really, what was a fox doing all the way out here? He didn’t strike me as an outdoors type or a back-to-basics type of guy. No, Jerry struck me as being more of a ‘I need time and space to be myself’ kind, only I wasn’t sure he knew who or what that was. He could be charming and personable like most Foxes were. Then he’d be distant and prickly, almost edgy like he didn’t want to be around people, but also needed something he couldn’t find.
Yeah, I’d spent far too much time analyzing the hell out of everything Jerry had said or done. For reasons I can’t quite fathom, the guy appealed to me on a level no one else had. Which was why I was fighting my attraction. I was a steady pair of hands in a crisis. I was a force of nature and I was a pack leader and the town’s sheriff. I took those roles seriously; I couldn’t allow my mind to wonder or my thoughts dwell too much on a flash-harry who caught my eye and smelled like temptation and trouble actually he didn’t, he smelt good, too good, so good that I had to check that I wasn’t drooling over the man. I knew without a doubt he would fit perfectly into my arms. His blue eyes reminded me of a powder blue sky. I could get lost in those eyes for days. And maybe that was part of the problem. More than once, I’d seen a look of both longing and wariness. Willing me to come closer and still keep my distance.
I’d done a full background check on him when he’d moved into his uncle’s cabin. There was no mystery to solve. He was a graphic designer who’d chosen to escape the city. He was the youngest of a large troop of Foxes and from what I’d learned, he was not into the party life-style so often associated with his kind. Like I said, I thought I knew all there was to know about him. Only the memory of feeling him in my arms haunted my dreams and flashed before my eyes whenever he was near. My hands itched to touch him, to know that his skin was as soft as I thought or if his hair was as silky as it looked. Yes, I knew this kind of… fixation was not exactly healthy. Which is why I tried to focus so much on the little things about him that annoyed me. Like that damn death-trap of a car that he drove or the sassy comments that came out of his mouth. Which he only seems to say when he was trying to throw me off guard. That seemed to be a lot, now that I look back on it. Who was he trying to fool, me or himself? I had no doubt that he was flirting with me. Whether he meant to or not, I wasn’t so sure. He was unlike any alpha I’d come across before. It was almost as if he was behaving the opposite. Did I think Jerry had issues? Yep, did I think I was one of them? Maybe? Would I fuck him if, given the chance, in a hot second!
Now he was panicking and needed help. Jerry was flirty, a little dizzy sometimes, but he came over as a capable independent guy, able to handle whatever shit came his way. So, the fact that he was so out of sorts only added to the warning bells already going off in my head. Scotty’s words rang in my ears.
“It’s not that simple, and he asked for you, by name.”
As I rounded the bend in the road, I could see Jerry’s cabin set in a clearing amongst the trees. I’d been here a few times back when Ferris had owned the place, but even from a distance it was plain to see that there’d been a few improvements. The largest being a carport, I tried and failed to not roll my eyes at the vehicle that took up much of the space. Off to the side sat an older looking truck. If I were honest, I could see why he didn’t attempt to drive the Frankenstein truck. The only thing holding it together was the rust. Did the thing even run? It was made up of so many mismatched parts; it was hard to see what the original color was. The rest of the cabin had been smartened up too. Instead of it looking like an old trapper shack, it had new shutters, the missing shingles had been replaced, and the front porch no longer sagged. Like the rest of the town’s folk, I’d seen the trucks that had brought building supplies up the mountain and like the rest I’d wondered what Jerry had done to the place. But I’d not expected it to look like a mix of ski chalet and top end retreat. But was I really prepared to enter the fox’s den?
I pulled up next to the franken-truck and made my way to the door. My first knock went unanswered, so did the second. I tried the handle and found the door unlocked. All my years of being alive on this planet had not prepared me for the sight that met my eyes. Jerry was standing next to a desk with his hand in a basket, but that wasn’t the bit that I was struggling to take in. Nope, that was Jerry standing there looking extra cute in a fluffy tailed onesie. His free hand flapped about in the air like a one-winged bird while he hopped from one fur booted foot to the other, trying to shake his trapped hand free.
Just what the hell was going on here? Jerry looked seconds away from a full-blown panic attack as soon as he saw me. His pinched facial features changed to one of relief.
“Oh, thank the goddess you’re here… I can’t get it to let go.”
His eyes implored me to help release him from whatever force held him captive. In three strides, I was by his side and peering into the box. Okay, that was indeed a baby. Scotty had got that bit right. But why was Jerry dancing about like a cat on a hot tin roof?
“Who’s is it and where did it come from?” Jerry was still trying to shake off the stranglehold the baby had around his fingers.
“I found the box on the doorstep and I thought it was a Christmas gift from my boss. I have no clue who’s baby it is, or how it got here. Please, can you get it off me? My fingers are starting to go numb!”
Now that he’d mentioned it, his hand did look a funny color. It was plainly obvious Jerry had no idea about how to handle a baby. Edging a little close, I could make out a little cherub-like face peering out from under a small wooly Santa hat. My best guess was that the child was about a month old and had been well taken care of… up until this point. Making it even more of a mystery. Once I had a firm hold around the child’s upper body, I lifted it up, dislodging its hold on Jerry in the process. Jerry visibly shuddered and took a deep breath, side-eying the bundle I now held in my arms.
“So, why you… I’m going to guess you’re not much of a baby person. So, why has someone left this little guy with you?”
“Guy? It’s a boy? I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t think to check the box to see if there was a note or something that would explain why?”
“Well, no, I was too shocked and I don’t know anything about babies. I didn’t want to touch it, just in case I broke it.”
“Jerry, you can’t break a baby by picking it up. Check the box and see if you can find anything.”
He still looked a little unsure, but considering my hands were full, he had no actual choice. Slowly, he reached in and had a root around. One by one, he pulled the contents out, placing them on the desk. There was a blanket, a rattle, a pacifierwhich will no doubt come in handy laterand an envelope. The envelope held a piece of paper and as soon as Jerry unfolded it. He stared at it hard, then flipped it over to look at the back, then held it up to the light… then dropped it like the paper burned him. I wasn’t sure what surprised me most, the look on Jerry’s face or the paper he’d dropped. Face pale and lip quivering, Jerry slumped against the desk like the life had drained out of him.
Just what was written on that paper to make him react like that? I stepped closer and peered down at it. Well, slap me silly and call me kitten… No wonder Jerry looked like he was turning green. The paper was a birth certificate, and it had Jerry’s name down as the father. Clearly, this was news to him.
“Congratulations, so what’s his name?” I looked from the quietly gurgling child to Jerry and back again, looking for a family resemblance.
“Huh? What… how should I know what his name is…” Jerry snapped.
